Create Superior Customer Experiences
This week, I’m stepping away from last week’s column on increasing average order value in your call center to share a personal experience from which all multichannel marketers can learn. Next week, I’ll be back with part two of that series. I felt this was topic was so fresh in my mind that it would be worth saving the second part until next week.
I enjoy mixing things up in my weekly column; after all, I need to keep it fresh more than 50 times a year. As a teacher of direct marketing, I take my marketing cues from many sources. So when I see something in the world of noncatalog marketing that inspires me — something I feel can offer some good takeaway lessons — I feel obligated to share it with you.
That said, this week’s article looks at creating a totally unique customer experience that drives customer loyalty beyond what we normally think of in our industry.
Last week I got home from a Western Caribbean cruise. Normally I hate cruises. I know some people love them, but to me I feel like a rat trapped in a maze. That’s until I ran into a company called Cloud 9 Adventures and the Jam Cruise!
Imagine if you will a medium-sized cruise ship filled with about 2,000 passengers; 20 or so of the best funk, jam and jazz bands on the planet; and an extra half-dozen or so “roving” musicians. All playing day and night on a five-night cruise. Welcome to the Jam Cruise (www.jamcruise.com), an innovation in theme-based cruises that brings together travel and entertainment in one package. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that I’m a huge music buff.)
From a marketing perspective, however, in just five years Cloud 9 has developed a phenomenon that sells out months in advance. Its many advanced bookings are a testament to the positive customer experience from which it gains remarkable degrees of loyalty and customer advocacy.
Jim Gilbert has been creating direct marketing programs that drive superior ROI for almost 30 years. Fluent in consumer or B-to-B, creative, operations, and analytics, he marries the strategic and tactical sides of direct and social media marketing in a seamless fashion that gets results. He's CEO of a multidiscipline direct marketing agency, Gilbert Direct Marketing, Inc., which focuses on direct mail, catalogs, DRTV, telemarketing, print, alternative direct marketing media and social media marketing. Jim has been involved in start-ups, expansions and turnarounds, and is an expert in helping multichannel marketers get to the "next level." He's a former adjunct professor, teaching direct marketing at Miami International University, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. Jim loves to talk direct marketing, and has done many lectures on direct and social media marketing.
